Passive building design in Ukraine

The winter season brings Ukrainians not only the joys of New Year and Christmas, but also mounting electricity/heating bills. This is a hard blow to the family budget, which was badly hit by the crisis. Have you ever considered the idea of paying considerably less for electricity and heating by better organizing your home?

Florian LAMMEYER, a professional German construction engineer, coordinator of the Passive Home Project in Ukraine, with practical experience of ultra-low energy construction projects in his home country, is sure that energy-saving technologies are considerably more accessible than one would think. Besides, switching Ukrainian construction business to passive building designs is only a matter of time. The quickly increasing energy prices will force the consumer to require the passive house standard certificate from the developer, as was the case in Germany.

Lammeyer embarked on his project in Ukraine four years ago. Initially, his Passivhaus met with positive response only in a narrow circle of specialists. However, after the last year’s crisis and the gas war with Russia, a number of private developers showed a keen interest. Next year one of the first ultra-low energy construction projects will be implemented in Ukraine in a compact settlement.

The Day met with Florian Lammeyer to discuss the energy efficiency rate of the Ukrainian housing complex and talk about German experience, considering that this country is the world’s best in terms of energy saving.

Mr. Lammeyer, what is the difference between the energy passive and energy efficient construction technologies? Are these notions synonymous?

“Associating energy passive with energy efficient construction is like saying that good and evil are the same thing. There are energy efficient houses and passive houses. The former have a heating system and the latter can do without. In other words, a passive house is way above an energy efficient one.”

You mean a passive house consumes no thermal energy?

“Energy losses in a passive houses are far lower to begin with, because it is tightly sealed, its walls, roof, and foundation are winterized, with up to 30 cm thick outer wall insulation layer. Besides, there are special heat recuperation ventilation systems that permit maintaining the temperature of the outgoing air in the heat exchanger and using it to heat the fresh air supplied to the house. Such repeated use of the heat of exhaust air helps save over 75 percent of energy.

“There are also inner energy sources; every human being produces some 120 watts, along with household electrical and other appliances. The refrigerator is the best example. Reach behind its back when it’s working and you will feel its heat waves. Such a house receives additional energy through the large windows on the south side. If the structure is big enough, or if its design and location aren’t good enough for a passive house, an additional heating system is installed — a thermal pump, for example.

“Don’t bother installing a thermal pump in a conventionally built home — I mean one built using obsolete standards — it will be a waste of money because it takes a very powerful pump to generate the required temperature. It will cost you several times the price of quality winterization works. So you must winterize your home first.”

Germany has the greatest deal of experience of energy efficient construction. What’s the market ratio of passive houses and market demand?

“What you regard as an energy efficient house in Ukraine is standard practice in Germany. In my country an energy efficient house is one with the indices higher by 50 percent than set standards.

“No house built in Germany can have less than 10 cm insulation layer, so in a sense every such house is energy efficient. Also, some 20 percent of the cottages built these days are passive houses. That’s what concerns the private housing market.

“As for the municipal structures, some federal territories like Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg have a very interesting experience. Every new school, office, or other municipally run project must be energy passive.

“Construction in East Germany is being done in accordance with federal energy-saving directives. If a construction project fails to meet these standards, the developer won’t be allowed to build it.”

In other words, the energy passive initiative comes from the German state? Was there any national program aimed at stimulating the energy passive construction market?

“It began with instituting a state energy consumption standard in 1995. This set fairly tough requirements before the construction companies and brought them closer to energy efficiency. Then there were national programs aimed at assisting private housing projects, using energy-saving standards. For example, if someone wants to build an energy passive or saving home in Germany today, he can get a low-interest bank loan.

“Regarding construction business, there has been no massive support on the part of the state. Rather, this business developed in response to the private housing market demand.”

Which construction sector was the first to initiate energy efficient projects in Germany?

“The housing one, of course. Actually, energy efficient and passive construction had an interesting beginning in Germany.

“The first passive houses were built precisely because the customers tasked the architects with this kind of design. They wanted their homes to be zero energy ones. This private initiative lasted several years. At times the developer knew more about passive building design than the architect. I’d say that innovative trends in German construction were caused by market demand.”

What’s the economic effect of passive building design compared to old construction standards?

“The point is where you want to build our house. If it’s in Germany, a passive house will save you lots of money which you would otherwise spend on electricity and heating bills. German developers start earning money for themselves in seven to ten years, considering that our energy prices are higher by 190 percent than in Ukraine.

“We have computed the profitability of a passive house in Ukraine. So far it says this project will pay off in 15 years provided the prices remain on the current market level, which is highly unlikely. If you consider the energy price fluctuations over the past six years in Ukraine, the upward curve shows about 350 percent. Still, compared to the German energy prices, you’re paying 190 percent less. In other words, your prices have enough room to grow.

“Therefore, with energy prices going up, the profitability of passive building design keeps increasing.”

How much more will Ukrainians have to pay for passive houses?

“Considering the Ukrainian real estate prices before the crisis, those who could afford them would have no problems building passive houses. Of course, the construction companies wouldn’t be receiving such superprofits, but that’s a different subject.”

Did you study the Ukrainian construction materials market? If so, do these materials meet the passive energy standards? Or maybe those who will want to build passive houses will have to buy raw and construction materials abroad?

“The Ukrainian market offers almost all the materials required for passive energy construction projects. A passive house can be built using nearly any material except old standard bricks because they have a very low heat transfer rate and building a passive house using this kind of bricks would be very difficult.

“As for the special windows installed in the passive houses, they were in short supply in Ukraine last year, but now distributors are gradually appearing who are prepared to arrange for such supplies. There are also thermal pumps, heat recuperation ventilation systems, and the required insulating materials. In principle, your market has everything you need.”

an the existing Ukrainian housing complex be upgraded to meet the passive energy standards?

“Yes, it can, in principle. For example, the Stalin-style apartment buildings are easy to upgrade using modern insulating materials. These structures have compact shapes which is very good for energy efficient building design. Of course, converting an old structure into a passive house would be very difficult and unjustifiably expensive, but upgrading it as an energy efficient one is quite possible and realistic.

“However, I think that the problem with upgrading the Ukrainian housing resources is not so much construction technologies as legal aspects. Each apartment means a separate owner, so upgrading an apartment building with hundreds of such owners is very hard to arrange. This calls for heavy spending and requires capital investments. Suppose half of the owners can afford such renovations, while the other half can’t. And the housing authority has no money for the modernization of at least part of the project. Then what?

“Before you upgrade your housing facilities, you have to carry out reforms in your housing and municipal services, so there are real owners who would control their energy consumption and understand the necessity of upgrading. Now such reforms in your public services are a political matter.”